Yeah probably best ham I've had in a while. Going to make more for sure. Cheap and easy family meal. The little bit of leftovers I had made for some good sandwiches.

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Steve..... I'm disappointed you 'chickened' out and went back to your old ways...
I want to challenge you --- and anybody else --- to try another breast prepped the way I did it and have you decide which is better I ***might*** consider doing a breast without slitting the skin at some point, but for how fantastic mine turned out, I'd be worried that I would be underwhelmed by the results. I most definitely have no reservations about the process I used now! I would gladly change my methods if I KNEW it would be better, but I'm tiring of experimenting after I've found something that works very well and meets my expectations!

Haha . . . yeah, I took the easy way out but it was still pretty darned good, so no regerts here.

I'll think about it next time, though. I don't mind playing around a bit. You can always make a turkey soup if it all goes to hell, right??

Gotta ask.... did you set the ham on the grates with the flat down or on edge?
I'm gonna do this sooner rather than later as I planned..... I was chatting with my brother and he said there is no reason to wait for cherry wood to dry before using it --- he uses green wood all the time - he said it actually smokes better and longer !?!? I'm gonna believe him and plan on using some on a ham very soon.... just have to track down a glaze or recipe to use now.

And to add --- he agreed that hickory is ok on poultry if its a hot and fast cook, but tends to be strong when used for a low and slow cook.... he uses quite a bit of fresh hickory himself.

I think it was flat down, I just kinda tossed it on there.
Yeah thats good to know on the hickory. I use it a lot when smoking pork butt for pulled pork. Usually use apple and hickory or mesquite together and it comes out great. Don't think ill use anything but fruit wood in the future with turkey.

I always heard green wood tastes bitter? I could definitely see it smoke longer though.

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Personally i would not smoke Meats with Green Wood. Some say yes, many say no. If you aren't actually Burning the wood as fuel for the heat, IE: just using chunks or chips for flavor with Charcoal etc, it would likely be fine.

It looks to me like Lucasclays Ham was on it's side, not flat down. Look at the way the spiral cut slices are opening while smoking, it wouldn't do that flat end down.

It looks great, i will do my next one that way.

Yeah - I've heard and read the same too.... but I feel comfortable trusting my brother on this one. Its going to come down to how soon/badly I want to smoke my ham I'm even contemplating tossing a couple of chunks into the oven for a while to 'kiln dry' it --- my only concern is smelling up the kitchen and oven by doing so....

And yes, this will be on the WSM with charcoal, so it would only be 2-3-4 chunks on there for flavor.

I ran across this vid today that was kinda interesting..... and nerdy, but useful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM4bNyeyOiY
Reaffirms that there is nothing wrong with my dry brining method that I've been using.

And just to say.... I had my 4th (full) meal off the breast last night - open faced sammy! I was low on spuds and stuffing, so I smeared the bread with the spuds, slathered with gravy, stacked the turkey, covered with stuffing and coated with gravy.... FANTASTIC! It was almost sacrileges to put gravy on the turkey, but the smoke flavor still came thru all the other flavors! I still have a full half a breast to go too!

I know I have said it before in the smoker thread, but you guys really need to try some pecan with birds.... once you do, you'll be pissed that you hadn't done it before!

Yeah. Think I'll do apple pecan next time with poultry. Not sure what to make for Christmas dinner, either another ham or maybe a turkey breast, yours looked good.

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You won't be disappointed!!!

How long did it take to smoke up that ham? Just want to gage how long to set the WSM up for.... I'm guessing ~3-4hrs?
Did you pull it by temp or by looks?

Right now I'm thinking it will be a Xmas ham.....
A meatloaf is coming next as soon as I finish up this turkey....

I left it on too long because I didn't want it to get cold. Probably 4.5 hrs. I put it on same time as turkey and took it off at the same time. I think it was around 180 when I pulled it. Shouldn't have had it on that long, couple spots dried out a little. Could probably do it in 3 hrs maybe less. The grill wasn't very got either.

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I'm boiling down the breast bones from my smoked turkey..... WHOA --- it smells REALLY smoky!!!!
What does the collective say about making soup or gravy from smoked turkey carcass?
I'm having second thoughts at the moment....

Look at the size of the balls on that turkey!



Seriously though, I just bought my first pellet smoker so I'm thinking to try a Christmas turkey on it. Looks like some great ideas here.
We flipped things around this year and I smoked a sliced ham on the charcoal grill; lots of work keeping the temp down because that old grill is too drafty, but the ham turned out awesome, like meat candy. Only seasoning I used was some good southern dry rub my buddy made; he won't tell me what's in it and he moved so I can't get more, but it's really good stuff and I need to find more of something similar.
This thread reminds me I should have used the old Weber that's sitting right next to the big charcoal grill. Duh.

Webers are great, they can do anything. Have 2 of them, both were free one needed a new grate. Have a old barrel smoker but I've never used it, I learned on the weber and its always been a solid choice.

Yeah i was surprised how good reheating a ham on the grill can be. Easier too, less dishes to do later.

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Smokey turkey soup sounds good. Maybe add some canned broth to tone down the smoke a little?

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I would bet it is something like this one....
https://www.thespruceeats.com/magic-dus ... rub-335886
I'm starting to branch out into different rubs/dry brines right now.... I need to pick up some cumin and mustard that can easily be added to the Memphis rub that I'm currently using --- it seems like all the 'better' rub recipes call for them... I'm a big believer in that a rub should have sugar in it - so many people say 'no sugar, it will burn' but I have never found that to be a problem. The sugar helps offset the salt if you are dry brining (especially for long times) or if you go too heavy with it.